Back: Six Nations near miss will make England hungrier

Neil Back believes that not winning the 2014 RBS 6 Nations might turn out to be a blessing in disguise for England ahead of next year's World Cup.

England finished as RBS 6 Nations runners-up for the third consecutive year as they lost out on the title on points difference to Ireland.

However Back, who helped England lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003, insists all is not lost for Stuart Lancaster's Red Rose army despite once again having to settle for second best.

The former openside flanker is adamant that just missing out will make the team hungrier for success in next year's Championship - although he insists that only a Grand Slam will do if they have hopes of enjoying a successful World Cup on home soil a matter of months later.

"Perversely, not winning the Six Nations may have been a good thing because it means the hunger is still there," Back said.

"Sometimes when a young teams wins things they can start to gravitate, but this team is still very well grounded.

"Not winning the Six Nations will have made them even hungrier for next year, and that's the important one because it's a World Cup year.

"It's crucial that England win next season's Six Nations and the Grand Slam too to take them into the World Cup.

"If you want to win the World Cup you must win seven matches and if you can't defeat Six Nations teams ranked below, then we'll have a problem winning the World Cup.

"This is a really exciting time and I'm genuinely excited about this England team for the first time since I was last involved."